Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Experts: Next President Will Need to Make Cyber Security a Priority

In an election season dominated by concerns over the economy and the war in Iraq, cybersecurity hasn't exactly been a top issue for the candidates or voters.

But it's a topic the next administration will need to focus on -- and as a high priority, according to several tech industry representatives, including two former officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a former White House cybersecurity czar.

Driving that urgency is the growing danger of cyberattacks against critical networks and systems that run the financial services and energy sectors, as well as those used by the government and the military. Those attacks could come from opportunistic nation-states as well as from criminal adversaries, they said.

"There is not a doubt in my mind that the time for action, and dramatic action, is now," said Amit Yoran, former director of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) of the DHS and now CEO of NetWitness Corp. "Without a comprehensive national cybersecurity initiative, things are going to end up in a very bad way."